Lavender had waited for this day for, like, ever. And now that it was here, now that she was eighteen, she’d be legally free to leave this horrible place.

She nervously raked her hands through her damp, golden hairs. Washing it this morning had been a disaster, just as it was every time she cleaned it.

She glanced around the room; the sun catching her long mane that spiraled over the creaking floorboards and around the tower walls.

A shout from down below made the girl jump, and she dashed over to the open window.

It was Mother! Her hands twitched with nervous excitement as she gathered up her hair and tossed it out. She was used to the stiffness in her back and neck, at the weight of her golden locks. They had to extend over seventy feet now, to be sure.

She carefully pulled her mother up, barely noticing the strain. If there was one thing she had, other than mutant follicles, it was an excellent core.

“Oh, thank you kindly, Lavie dear.” Mother gave her a pat on the head as soon as she had been lifted up. She headed straight towards their kitchenette, setting out the assortment of fruits and vegetables she’d acquired in town.

“How was your walk, Mother?” Lavender questioned, as she twiddled her thumbs impatiently.

“Absolutely refreshing.” The girl couldn’t help but to feel a ping of jealousy. For reasons she could never fully understand, Mother had always insisted that she was to never leave the tower.

While she stayed locked away, her mother was able to galavant around town and take strolls around the vast wilderness beneath them.

Lavender couldn’t even remember a time where her toes had touched a single blade of grass. And she was terrified that her mother truly meant to leave her here, forever.

“Mother, as you know, today is kind of my birthday, and I was wondering if,”

Her mother held up a hand, as she always seemed to do whenever Lavender had something important to say.

“Say no more, Lavie. Of course I’m making you a cake!” Mother than turned her back to the poor girl, choosing to face the cupboards instead.

“Actually, mother, this year I was thinking maybe we could do something different, like,”

“Mother,” Lavender clenched her fists, trying to relax. She hated, like most do, being interrupted.

“Vanilla is far too plain. Perhaps, perhaps a pineapple upside down?”

“Mother, pleas…”

She continued rattling through the cupboards, not paying any mind to her daughter.

“How about lemon pound cake? You always rave over that cake, and it is rather easy to make…”

“MOTHER!” The woman then turned, facing the girl. Lavender’s nostrils were flared, her cheeks warm and crimson.

“No, to lemon?” Lavender inhaled deeply, knowing that this was not the way she wanted this conversation to go.

“Mother, I don’t want cake. I want to go outside.”

She caught the twitch in her mother’s right eye when she had said it. But then she dared to pretend that she hadn’t heard Lavender at all.

“It doesn’t have to be cake. We could do pie.”

This then, made the girl completely lose it.

“MOTHER, I DON’T WANT PIE! I WANT TO GO OUTSIDE! I KNOW YOU HEARD ME, BUT IN CASE YOU MISSED IT,

“I. WANT. TO. GO. OUTSIDE.”

There was a short silence that clung to the air after she had finished. Mother simply blinked a few times, before opening her mouth to reply.

But Lavender knew what her mother would say. It was always the same thing.

“The outside world is a dangerous place.”

“I’m trying to protect you.”

“This isn’t one of your fairytales. Real life isn’t a happy place.”

Lavender was fed up with excuses. And mother interrupting her certainly didn’t help.

“I’m eighteen now.” She interjected, placing her hands on her hips. “You can’t say no to me anymore.”

Mother took a step back, broken by the girl’s declaration.

“I’ve already got a bag packed. I’m as good as gone, Mother.”

She then stomped off to her room, and grabbed the parcel which contained a change of clothes and some foods from off her bed. A twinge of guilt began to bubble within the deepest corners of her heart, but she stomped on that too.

She huffed her way to the window, gathering her long tresses to be thrown out once more. But mother then called out to her, making her freeze.

She knew she must have misheard the woman, and breathed out a “what?” so that she might hear correctly.

“Please know, all I’ve wanted was to protect you. To keep you safe, Lavie dear.”

But that wasn’t what Lavender had heard.

“You see,” Mother continued. “I was a maid in the king’s house. The queen was very kind to me, to anyone. Now that I think of it, you remind me so much of her.

“When the queen, the only good and light in the king’s life, died- an evil took over. It possessed him, consumed him. He tried to kill you once. He did! Who would ever smother an innocent, little baby?! But an advisor talked him down, in the nick of time.

“I had no choice, Lavie. I took you away from him. And he’s just as evil as before. Worse, I imagine. When I brought you here to hide, well, at first it was my duty to you- to your mother.

“But then, well, you became mine. I changed you. I cared for you. You were my daughter. I just, I can’t let you go. Please, please don’t go.”

The woman began softly crying, and Lavender thought for a moment that her hard interior was crumbling down. She dropped her bag on the ground, stepping towards the woman.

“You’re not my mother?” Her voice had lowered to a calm whisper. The woman shook her head.

“Flesh and blood, it doesn’t matter. I’m your mother. I raised you, all this time.” Tears were still rolling down the woman’s cheeks.

“But, you’ve lied to me? All this time.” Lavender’s tone filled not with anger, but with hurt and betrayal.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I never wished to hurt you. Forgive me!”

Mother extended her arms out, as if to invite the innocent girl in for a comforting hug. Lavender used to love those hugs and the apologies of the erratic woman who was always so clearly in the wrong.

But Lavender wasn’t a little girl in need of soothing anymore.

“You’re a liar!” Lavender knocked the woman off balance with a shove, quickly circling behind her. Grabbing the ends of her hair, she began to wrap them around mother’s neck.

“Let’s take a walk outside, Mother.”

The older woman struggled and gagged, as Lavender yanked her towards the window. The woman wasn’t weak or feeble by any means, but was certainly no match for the strength of the girl.

“Puhleeeshguh!” Lavender had released her just enough to where the woman could see her dark, empty eyes.